The relationship between distracted driving and drivers’ education

Being educated while on the road goes beyond memorizing a set of rules before taking your drivers test, it’s a foundation for driver communication, efficiency, and safety. Not only do educated drivers feel more confident on the road, educated drivers are involved in fewer collisions and less likely to receive a traffic violation or ticket (University of Nebraska- Lincoln). Nowadays, it seems the lack of driver education is contributing to distracted driving, especially for teenagers. Thousands of deaths every year can be attributed to distracted driving. Although new technology has been invented to stop the use of electronics while driving, none of them are completely effective. To reduce the number of accidents, whether major or minor, we must enact critical change soon.

Educating teens about the risks of using their phone and driving distracted can help influence them make better decisions. Increased education on subjects such as sex education, alcohol, and drugs have reduced the chance of negative outcomes/addiction by up to 50% (National Institutes of Health). Based on the success of the increased education of these topics, a similar approach could be taken to distracted driving. It is especially important to teach children from a young age the dangers of distracted driving, so it is ingrained in them that distracted driving is harmful and unacceptable. Talking one-on-one to a child about the risks of using their cell phone while driving can help them to realize the dangers of their decisions. They must realize that the consequences of their actions go beyond themselves.

In my opinion, there are two ways to help stop distracted driving, by offering incentives to teens, or for the teens to receive repercussions. By incentivizing teens to stop driving distracted, they are less likely to do so. For example, an insurance agency may offer a discount on the monthly insurance premium for teens who demonstrate they do not drive distracted. As a result, many teens would put their cell phones down in order to receive the discount. The same insurance company can enforce a consequence for driving distracted by increasing their monthly insurance premium. If this approach was adopted by insurance companies, we may see a decrease in the number of accidents due to distracted driving.

Certain apps and downloads on teens’ phones may also be a solution to electronic use while driving. Apps that disable social media, texting, and other communication apps while driving would be beneficial. By disabling these apps, the problem is directly eliminated, because teens can no longer drive while texting or using social media. Another app that can solve this problem is an app designed solely to contact emergency personnel or emergency contacts while disabling the use of any other apps. An app or download similar to this would allow for the prevention of texting or using social media while driving, but would still allow for the contact of emergency services in case of an accident or crisis.

Many times, when many people think of distracted driving, social media and cell phone use immediately come to mind. Although this is one of the main contributors to distracted driving, there are many lurking aspects, such as eating, or listening to music while driving. As a college student, sometimes I don’t have time to eat my breakfast at home before commuting to class due to the traffic and length of my commute, so I tend to eat breakfast or drink my coffee while driving. Eating and drinking while driving can partially block the field of vision or shift your concentration to something other than driving. Because of this, I am starting to eat breakfast earlier in the morning by waking up earlier. Although I have the occasional coffee, I do not want to contribute to the more than 50% of drivers who drive while eating or drinking (The Zebra insurance, 2021), so hopefully I will be able to nip that habit in the bud before the school year starts..

Although distracted driving is not the only subject of drivers education, it is the most deadly and consequential and can benefit most from drivers’ education. As technology and electronics develop, the amount of distracted driving increases, and because of this, it is so extremely important to continue to educate and prevent the use of cell phones when driving in advance. At the end of the day, it’s not only the teens who are affected by their reckless decisions, but the innocent people injured by their choice to drive distracted. By increasing education of the consequences of distracted driving and introducing new technology such as apps, we can severely decrease the amount of teen fatalities from cell phone use while driving.